The Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, Bristol: ‘How to Create ‘Devoted’ Customers’

Andy has been asked to present an evening seminar on creating real competitive advantage by creating not satisfied, or even delighted customers, but ‘devoted’ customers. Practical tools and techniques on creating consistently great customer experiences and maxisiming relationships with new and existing customers. 

For more details, click here.

Entrepreneurs Forum, Teesside: ‘Tees Pride’

Andy has been asked to facilitate what promises to be a fabulous ‘from the horse’s mouth’ panel evening event. Participants will be able to question and hear from a panel of highly successful Teesside based entrepreneurs explaining how they are surviving and thriving in today’s competitive world.

Click here for more details

Entrepreneurs Forum, Gateshead: Creating and Keeping Customers in Tougher Times

Andy is facilitating a half day workshop aimed at helping you develop a proactive approach to developing and maximising customer relationships in a world of ever increasing competition, customer expectations and choice.

Click here for more details.

Women In Business, Barnsley: ‘Thinking in 3D’

Andy is presenting ‘Thinking in 3D’ to the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber Women in Business group…..but it is ‘bring a bloke’, so all welcome!!!

Click here for more details and for booking.

A Fresh Pair Of Eyes

I took my 11 year old neice Tilly to London for a couple of days earlier this week – we had a lovely time doing all the ‘Tommy Tourist’ stuff you do, visiting things that I thought an 11 year old would want to see. Tilly specifically wanted to go to The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square particularly to see George Stubbs’  ‘Whistlejacket’ (she loves art and horses!), so we went. The National Gallery was amazing! I’d never been.

I go to London regularly, often ‘dashing in and out’, but even when I go ‘visiting’ I’ve never considered the National Gallery. I’m not a particularly ‘arty’ person and have never thought it would be for me - I was blown away with the place – some of the paintings in there are absolutely inspiring! Can’t wait to go back.

And my point is? A fresh pair of eyes showed me something I’d never considered – something I’ve walked past regularly and ignored consistently (more fool me!). I’m convinced most of us are guilty of that running our buisnesses and doing our jobs – perhaps we’re on ’automatic pilot’ a bit too much? Do you always do what you’ve always done?

So why not get ‘a fresh pair of eyes’? Ask a member of your team (maybe a ‘junior’, a ‘newcomer’, or someone who doesn’t do your job), what they think about how you do a specific job, ask a customer to point out something they think you could do better, ask ‘anyone’ to make a suggestion about a website you should look at, a book you should read, a place you should visit.

It could be that they point out something you used to do, watch or visit, but for whatever reason, you’ve stopped. My Godson, Sam asked me to play Mastermind with him the other day – I’ve not played that for about 30 odd years! It’s a great game and we had great fun. Again, a ‘fresh pair of eyes’ – this time reminding me about something I already know but had ‘forgotten’. 

What I’m saying is that ‘a fresh pair of eyes’ can highlight ‘new’ stuff to you and can ‘remind’ you about stuff that you know, but haven’t done / seen for a while.

So, in the spirit of providing a ‘fresh pair of eyes’, here are some things to look at:

First of all, a couple of reminders about ‘old ones’:

Tom Peters – Been doing it for years, but still doing it

Seth Godin – Obvious to anyone who reads my stuff, but always worth ’reminding you about’

Here are a couple of ‘newer ones’:

Fresh Networks - great stuff and ideas on Social Media

John Lyle – thought provoking ideas on Branding

And finally, to get consistently ‘fresh pairs of eyes’, visit TED for 18 minute ’bursts’ of innovation, stimulation and motivation from some of the greatest business thinkers in the world.

Suggestions Please! Do let me know what you think I should be looking at – the more eyes that are looking, the more we’ll all see!

So Near But ‘So Fa’

My other half Jill is eagerly awaiting delivery of a new sofa from Marks & Spencer – well, we’re both waiting, but for Jill, apparently it’s all very exciting (I know, different things work for different people!). We were originally told 10 to 12 weeks delivery, which was a bit frustrating, but ok. Good things are worth waiting for and all that.

Jill got a call today from Marks & Spencer saying that the sofa had arrived. It was only about six weeks since ordering – they’d exceeded her expectations – she was ‘Delighted’!  The lady then went on to tell her that she would now have to organise delivery of the sofa and was looking at something like the 12th September! Another 3 weeks!

Bizzarely, that delivery is still within the original timeframe discussed, but Jill’s ‘Disappointed’. Why is this? I know it’s not life or death, but I feel it’s a great example of failing to ‘manage’ customer expectations. Actually it’s worse – by telling her that the sofa had arrived, they raised her expectations and then failed by providing a ‘Poor Experience’.

The grid on the right tries to demonstrate this. ‘Delighted’ customers are created by exceeding their expectations and that’s a great start. ‘Devoted’ customers are those with high expectations (raised by themselves or the supplier) who get a ‘Great Experience’. ‘Disappointed’ customers have a ‘Poor Experience’ in relation to their expectations. If you raise your customers expectations and then fail to deliver, you get ‘Disappointment’.

If they’d rung just to confirm that September 12th looked like the delivery date, Jill would have been very happy – it would have been earlier than she’d originally been led to believe – she’d have been ‘Delighted’.

Oh well, another 3 weeks sitting on the floor!

Motivational Methods

Motivating people, particularly in these ‘trickier times’, appears to be a key factor for success in improving ‘competitiveness’, but how do you do it? Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer, but here are two insights I like, both very different.

Firstly, a great twenty minute presentation from Dan Pink, the ‘motivational thinker’. He was speaking at TED and suggests that for many, the ‘traditional carrot and stick’ incentives no longer work.

Secondly, a nice ‘simple’ article on ‘Creating a Culture of Thank You’ from Reid Carr on Fast Company. It’s all common sense – we know we should be doing it, but maybe we don’t do it quite enough!

Incidentally, if you ever find yourself with a spare twenty minutes, a visit to the TED site is a great move. Videos of speakers from all over the world lasting a maximum of 18 minutes are a great way to get a burst of innovation, stimulation or motivation (and often all three!). To save for later on the bus or train home, there’s an opportunity to download them onto your ipod too!

Six Year Old ‘Director Of Fun’!

Here’s a great story about six year old Sam Pointon who applied for the job as Director of The National Rail Museum in York on hearing the news that the existing direcor was retiring.

The train mad six year old wrote to staff explaining  ‘I am only six but  I think I could do this job’. They were so impressed they appointed him ‘Director Of Fun’ with responsibility for letting them know how they can make the museum a great place to visit for young kids. 

It’s a nice bit of PR, and it’s a great thing for an enthusiastic six year old boy, but it’s also a great way of getting it right for customers – letting them tell you directly want they want and how to give it to them. I’m fairly sure Sam will do that!

What voice do your customers have about you? And are you listening?

You Too Can Learn From U2

I went to see U2 at Don Valley, Sheffield last night – what a brilliant performance! Bono and the boys put on a fantastic show for the 50,000 people who attended – a really magical evening. I know, you’re saying ‘Andy, I come on this blog for ideas about business, not to learn about what you do in your spare time – what’s that got to do with me?’ Without getting too pretentious, I do think there are so many lessons for business:

1. Stick to what you’re good at – U2 concentrate on being a brilliant rock and roll band – they’ve ‘toyed around’ with other styles of music in the past and lost direction for a few years. Now they are focussed on being ‘the best rock and roll band in the world’ and it shows.

2. Personalise it – In a world tour of this scale there’s a huge ‘machine’ needed to make it work. The whole event last night ‘felt’ personalised to Sheffield. Bono avoided the usual ‘scriptease’ and tailored his conversation to us – or at least it seemed that way to us, and that’s the important bit. In most businesses, there’s a lot of repetition, particularly when dealing with customers – it’s the ones that ‘personalise’ the experience that win out.

3. Use technology to enhance the experience – the stage show was amazing, but it supported and enhanced the music, rather than dominate it. The best businesses utilise technology to maximise the customer experience and use it accordingly.

4. Values – U2 are known for their political stances, and not everyone agrees with them I know, but that’s not the point. Their values are an integral part of what they are about and what they do and are included in the experience. Their support of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma was a special part of the concert.

5. Acknowledge Others – The public recognition of Tour Manager Willie Williams, a Sheffield lad in his home town on his birthday was great – so too was the addition of local group The Hours on the bill. Nice touches. Simple stuff, but the best businesses recognise individual contributions of their people whatever their role - not just the ‘stars’.

I could go on, but won’t. The final point for me is that U2 set out to be ‘the best’ and as a result they raise their ‘customers’ expectations. The challenge therefore is to deliver a ‘great experience’ - they managed to do that in Sheffield last night. From what I read and hear, that’s what they do every night – the mark of a successful organisation – consistency.

Social Media – Threat Or Opportunity?

Not convinced that ‘Social Media’ is relevant to your business? Check out these statistics to show the shear scale of what’s happening. My favourite is that the ‘population’ of Facebook means that if it was a country, it would be the fourth biggest in the world, that’s bigger than Russia, Japan and Brazil!

Not sure what they all mean specifically, but I can’t believe that there are any businesses out there that they don’t have some key implications for – positively and negatively.

Worked out what it all means for you yet? More importantly, worked out what you’re going to do about it?

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